[WAPO] KABUL -- Government troops surrounded the fortified luxury home of First Vice President Abdurrashid Dostum in the Afghan capital Tuesday in an all-day standoff, raising fears of a violent confrontation with his armed guards. The former warlord, accused of brutalizing a political rival, has refused to cooperate with a government investigation for several months.

The action came after Dostum repeatedly ignored requests for cooperation from the attorney general’s office in investigating the case, including summonses for nine of Dostum’s guards and other employees wanted for questioning.

But on Tuesday evening, after hours of tension and confusion gripped the capital, Dostum spoke publicly with supporters inside his house, saying he had ordered his guards to avoid any armed clash. At the same time, he warned that any move to unseat him would weaken the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

[AA.TR] Three military commanders affiliated with Yemen’s Shia Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...militia were killed in Sanaa’s Nahm governorate, the Houthi-linked SABA news agency reported Tuesday.

According to the news agency, the three slain commanders were Brigadier-General Zeid Ahmed Saleh al-Faqih and his two assistants, Ali Mohammed Hamza and Ahmed Saleh al-Ali.

The trio was reportedly killed on Monday while repulsing an attack by Yemeni pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led air coalition, according to SABA.

Since the outbreak of the Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...conflict nearly two years ago, the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... have generally refrained from reporting military losses sustained as a result of the fighting.

One of those captured on Tuesday was involved in the murder of police officer Lt. Hisham Hassan Mohammed al-Hamadi on Jan. 29.

The arrests of the hidden cell came on the heels of recent security operations that saw three runaways fleeing for Iran killed when they opened fire on coastguard personnel on Feb. 9.

At least two of those arrested were found to have built secret facilities to build bombs while eight others were found to have received on arms and the use of explosives in Iraq and Iran.

"As part of the search and investigation that led to the foiling of the fleeing runaways via the sea to Iran on February 9, a number of terror cells that were about to carry out terrorist plots have been dismantled through a comprehensive security plan," a spokesperson from Bahrain’s Ministry of Interio told Al Arabiya English.

"Proactive operations were successfully carried out from Feb. 9 to 19, and 20 individuals who were wanted in security cases were arrested. Four women were among the arrestees and were charged with aiding and abetting runaways," the spokesperson added.

#5
One additional facet- When it's your car getting "que'd" in Sweden, you are losing a very big ticket item. We were guests in Sweden of a family that had a pretty basic standard Ford SUV- no leather or fancy electronics. He asked me what I would pay in the USA. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and said "maybe $30,000". He rolled his eyes and talked about having to pay a sales tax equivalent to the cost of the vehicle, and he was in for over $80,000 converted to USD... for a basic model Ford that you might turn up your nose at in the rental aisle.
I would imagine an insurance policy that covered having some angry barbarian burn your car down to the melted tires, but its less clear if insurance would pay the new sales tax to replace.

[IsraelTimes] French police on Tuesday placed in durance vileDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! three men suspected of planning a terror attack in raids in the Gay Paree area, Marseille and the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, legal sources said.

In Clermont-Ferrand, a bomb-disposal operation was called in to sweep the home of a 37-year-old suspect for explosives, a source said.

"The suspects had a plot that was sufficiently advanced for the police to decide to arrest them," another source said.

The raids were ordered by anti-terrorism prosecutors in Gay Paree, according to a judicial source.

The suspects "have been tossed in the calabooseYou have the right to remain silent... as part of a preliminary investigation started in January on suspicion of leaving for Syria or committing an act in La Belle France," a source said.

[GEO.TV] At least 15 suspects, including a foreign national, were taken into custody by the law enforcement agencies in a number of search operations conducted in various areas of Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....on early Wednesday morning.

Law enforcement agencies launched search operations in different areas of Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha and Jhelum, detaining at least 13 suspects altogether, including a foreign national, after conducting a search of up to 250 houses.

According to police officials, around 200 houses were searched in Rahim Yar Khan and biometric verification of up to 300 people was conducted. Three suspects were incarceratedYez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! during the search operation and a suspicious vehicle was taken into custody.

In Sargodha, up to 50 houses were searched during the operation by LEAs, leading to the arrest of three suspects from the rural area of Farooka, said police. Following a joint search operation by police and intelligence agencies near Jhelum bypass, seven suspects were taken into custody, which also included a foreign national.

Following a joint search operation by police and intelligence agencies near Jhelum bypass, seven suspects were taken into custody, which also included a foreign national.

At least 98 suspects, including Afghan nationals, were taken into custody by the law enforcement agencies in a number of search operations conducted in different areas of the country on Monday and early Tuesday morning. According to reports, in combing operation after Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine blast, a crackdown is underway headed by the law enforcement agencies.

[SCMP] At least seven people were killed when multiple Taliban jacket wallahs attacked a court complex in northern Pakistain on Tuesday, the latest in a series of assaults which have raised fears faceless myrmidons are regrouping.

One bomber was briefly on the loose inside the busy complex in the Tangi area of Charsadda district but was killed by police some 20 minutes after the attack began, officials said.

A second bomber was rubbed out by security forces and a third died when he detonated his vest outside the main gates of the facility in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province, according to police.

The attack was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) faction of the Pak Taliban, which carried out a series of apparently coordinated assaults last week including a powerful kaboom in Lahore which killed 14 people.

Earlier this month the group vowed a fresh offensive on targets in Pakistain including the judiciary.

"So far seven people have been killed and 15 maimed," Suhail Khalid, district police chief, told AFP, adding that a lawyer was among the dead. The three attackers had opened fire on police and thrown grenades as they tried to battle their way into the complex, Khalid said.

"Bomb disposal experts told us that each bomber was wearing 7kg-8kg of explosives," he told news hounds in Charsadda. "Police fought bravely and saved Charsadda from devastation."

It was not immediately clear how many people were inside at the time of the attack, but hundreds of people including lawyers, judges and citizens normally attend such district court complexes every day.

Lawyers and the judiciary are frequent targets in Pakistain. Among last week’s assaults was a kaboom targeting a van carrying judges in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire., which killed their driver.

[ARA] Extremists of the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group (ISIS) on Tuesday executed two Iraqi security officers after detaining them in southern Iraq.

The group released footages online showing the beheading of the two officers.

The victims were captured near the Shia-majority town of Karbala in southern Iraq during festivities earlier this week.

Abbas Yassin Hussein and Ali al-Daraji were publicly beheaded on Tuesday on charges of working for what the group called "the infidel and apostate government of Iraq".

ISIS released a statement vowing to continue the fight against all US-backed forces across Iraq.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi forces were consolidating their gains south of djinn-infested Mosul... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on Tuesday ahead of moving into the city’s ISIS-held western half, a military spokesperson said, as civilians fled along the front line to government-controlled areas.

The remarks came on the third day of what is expected to be the definitive push to rout the ISIS group from Iraq’s second-largest city.

The front man of the Joint Military Operation Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that nearly 123 square kilometers - about 47 square miles - have been taken south of Mosul since the new push started on Sunday.

The troops now fully control the strategical hill of Abu Saif overlooking the Mosul airport as well as the Hamam al-Alil intersection on the main highway into the city, Rasool said.

Elite Iraqi forces have moved to join the regular army and the security forces on the ground, he added, but would not say what the next steps would entail.

[Jpost] Reports claimed on Wednesday morning that the IDF struck targets in the Syrian capital overnight at least twice.

According to Lebanese media, the targets that were hit are affiliated with the Assad regime and are on the outskirts of the capital.

The report also claimed that the IDF struck from within Lebanon so as not to be blocked by the Russian defense systems operating in the area.

Syrian media reports suggest that the attack was aimed at Hezbollah weapons. Syrian witnesses have attested to hearing "loud explosion sounds" in the early morning hours. Letting Russians not to lose face
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit declined to comment on the reports.

Syrian media reported that Israeli aircraft targeted Syrian Army positions, including a convoy bearing weapons for the Hezbollah terrorist group, early Wednesday morning. The strike was said to have occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m., in the Qalamoun Mountains, northeast of Damascus, close to the Lebanese border.

According to Arab media, outposts of the Syrian Army’s 3rd Division were targeted in the strikes.

The Syrian Shaam news service quoted a spokesperson for the nearby city of Yarboud who said the Israeli jets fired six missiles at the various targets. Some were directed toward military positions, while others targeted weapons caches near Ba’albak, in the eastern Qalamoun range, and set alight a Hezbollah convoy, according to the spokesperson, Abu al-Jude al-Qalamouni.

Anonymous security sources confirmed to the Lebanese al-Mayadeen outlet, which is supportive of Hezbollah, that missiles had been fired into Syria, but said that no damage or injuries were caused. The sources also said that only two missiles, not six, had been fired.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Hezbollah had obtained advanced Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles.

[IsraelTimes] Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine planned show of force to mark release of member from prison

The Israel Police on Tuesday said it had prevented a violent parade by a terror group in an East Jerusalem neighborhood that was aimed at showing solidarity with terrorists.

Jerusalem District Commander Deputy Commissioner Yoram Halevi signed off on a order banning the event, organized by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic..., in the Issawiya neighborhood.

Police, with the assistance of the Jerusalem municipality, entered Issawiya and dismantled a marquee tent where some of the activities were supposed to take place Tuesday and in the coming days, the statement said.

Six suspects, residents of Issawiya, were tossed in the slammerDrop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! for membership in a terror group, disturbing the peace, and conspiracy to commit a crime, police said.

"Police will not allow the existence of any activities by terror groups in Israel," the statement said. "They thwarted and prevented a violent and illegal show of force that was planned to include the use of illegal weapons inside Israeli territory and that was intended to encourage Lions of Islam affiliated with the terror organization."

After questioning, the suspects were to be brought before a court for an extension of their arrest.

Police said they had recently received information the DFLP planned to hold an event to mark the release from prison of a security prisoner, affiliated with the organization, at the end of a lengthy prison sentence. Police did not identify the DFLP member, noting only that he was scheduled to walk free on Tuesday.

[AA.TR] The government of Myanmar said on Tuesday that four Rohingya villagers were found dead in a conflict-torn area of country’s western Rakhine state.

The Office of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi said in a blurb that the bodies of three women and a man were found buried near Luu Pan Pyin village in the Maungdaw area last Thursday, Feb. 16.

"Police are investigating who these victims are," it said, adding that the three bodies bore deep wounds, while a woman had no internal injuries.

The bodies were found a day after the government announced the end of military operations in the area predominantly occupied by members of the stateless Rohingya minority group.

Myanmar has been under international criticism for its military crackdown on Rohingya civilians in the northern part of Rakhine State, which has been under military lockdown since a gang killed nine coppers last October.

[AFP] Abu Sayyaf militants were likely behind an attack on a Vietnamese cargo ship in which one crew member was killed and six others abducted, Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said Tuesday.

The MV Giang Hai was hit by unknown gunmen Sunday near the southernmost Philippine island of Baguan near the Malaysian coast. Yasay said, "We can only assume that they were taken by Abu Sayyaf people but this has to be verified," but added that it was "likely".

Prior to the latest incident the military said the Abu Sayyaf were holding 27 hostages. They include Filipino, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese and German hostages, as well as a Dutchman abducted in 2012.

Yasay said Vietnam's foreign minister raised the issue at an informal ASEAN ministerial retreat in the Philippines this week. At least six Vietnamese crew members of another vessel had been abducted in the area in November last year.

[UNTV] The Philippine military's Public Affairs Office chief, Colonel Edgard Arevalo confirmed on Monday that "Al Abdullah," a spotter for the Abu Sayyaf, was killed in a gun battle with government forces who were on patrol in the waters of Bacungan Turtle Island in Tawi-Tawi.

Arevalo said Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi disclosed that the troops acted upon a report of the presence of armed kidnap for ransom group in the area, prompting them to invite Abdullah for questioning. He said, "Nakausap nila si Abdullah at inamin ni Abdullah na sya ang may-ari ng bahay (They talked to Abudallah who admitted he is the owner of the house) where the armed men stayed and was among the reported men sighted."

Abdullah asked to enter the house. He returned with an M16 rifle and began the fire fight which resulted in his death.It coulda happened that way, I'll betcha.

[Bangkok Post] A man was gunned down in an ambush while returning home in Pattani province late on Sunday night. Pol Lt Col Sompong Rongyang, chief investigator for the Nong Chik district police department, said the attack occurred about 11:30 p.m. on a road in tambon Dato.

Usman Chemama was returning home on a motorcycle when he was shot with an AK47 rifle by an attacker hiding on the roadside. He was hit in the neck in the neck and later taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Turkish forces and the US-led coalition have killed at least 44 ISIS Lions of Islam in northern Syria in the last 24 hours, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.

Land and air forces have stuck 109 ISIS targets, including shelters, as part of Operation Euphrates Shield.

The Turkish-led Operation Euphrates Shield began in late August to improve security, support coalition forces and eliminate the terror threat along the Turkish border using Free Syrian Army... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.